What's First? The Egg or the Chicken?

I think I have mentioned several times that I have been having trouble with my left hamstring. I actually discovered it seems to be the glute, and it is causing pain in my glute and hamstring. Sitting exasperates it, a long car ride, like more than 20 minutes is out of the question (the drive to Chico- 4 hours was quite painful and I became a contortionist), and I kneel at my desk to type every single day at some point.

I have had a massage with Rachel and she can spend a good 45 minutes on the left glute alone, and the pain goes away and then when I train hamstrings again, the pain returns. Bugger, it's annoying.

Saturday was the San Jose NPC Bodybuilding show downtown, and the first ever Fit Expo, I wanted to go and cheer on friends and see the exhibits.

I met Sakura and her mother and we watched the show together. I missed Women's Physique, it was a super small show, mainly Men's Physique and Bikini. Ladies, if you are competing in Bikini, please take my advice and really think about your posing! Some of the competitor's looked like strippers, it's unfortunate that they work so hard, dieting and training, and then make themselves look foolish by posing and cavorting on stage in a manner that embarrasses all of us in the audience. A couple of the women were just over the top. I have no idea how they placed, I was at pre-judging, but I cannot imagine the judges awarded their behavior, at least I certainly hope not, it cheapens the entire event for all of us.

Anyway, Roy joined us mid way through Figure, we got to see Yvonne, Megan and Roxanne, they all looked great and they all placed! Congratulations! Afterward Roy and I walked around checking out the exhibits, we saw Jay Cutler, Cory Everson, Nate James (Stacy has been training with him for quite some time now), and countless other people all looking buff or wanting to look buff.

Roy and I stopped at a Chiropractor's exhibit, he wanted to see if we were in alignment. I said "I am fine, I don't need that!" so Roy stepped on the Spinal Analysis Machine and he was ever so slightly out of alignment.  I decided to get on the scales. There are two, each foot gets weighed independently and it is supposed to show your weight distribution and postural imbalances. 

Seems I am 10 pounds heavier on one side then the other!!! Whoa Boy! The doctor started talking about one side being weaker, pointing to my left (it is, quite a bit) and said I have a pelvic tilt (I do). So I knew he was going to try to sell me services. He asked if I had a chiropractor and asked his name. "Yes, Dr. Joseph Leahy" I replied and the chiropractor stopped dead in his tracks. He smiled, he knew him! He said he was the best in the area, in fact, when he came here to study he came specifically to study under Dr. Leahy, he was a student of his! He advised that I go see Dr. Leahy and gave me his own business card, asking if I might pass it on to him.

I felt that I may have gotten some good advice. 

The question in my mind though is this: Does the glute muscle hurt because of an imbalance that needs to be corrected, or am I out of balance because my glute muscle hurts? Is the muscle strain causing the imbalance or the other way around? It could be a vicious cycle that I need to end. 

If I can rest the muscle a while, the discomfort goes away, but since I train hamstrings twice a week, as soon as it starts to feel better, it gets hit hard all over again.

I found something that does relieve the discomfort though, it's one of my son's lacrosse balls. If you are not familiar with them, they are about the size of a baseball, but much harder. They are all over the place at my house so I have no problem finding one. I keep one in my gym bag to use at Gold's and Roy has a few at his gym too.

I have found that a foam roller just doesn't apply enough pressure, I need some really hard, deep pressure on the muscle. I can just rest my glute on the ball, it is quite painful at first, then the muscle starts to relax and I sink into it a bit more. I can roll around a bit until I find the sore spot then I just rest there until it feels better.

I have been trying to do this twice a day, and it helps, it really does, but I would like to eliminate it all together. I have a massage scheduled, hopefully that will work out the kinks. If not, then I guess I go see Dr. Leahy!